Access to various objects, such as files, directories, etc., of a computing environment is controlled in order to provide security and to preserve data integrity. In many computing environments, locking protocols are used in the controlling. For instance, in distributed file systems, access to file system objects is controlled via a plurality of locks. As examples, some locks are used to coordinate the caching of file system content, while other locks are used to coordinate access to file system objects by different clients.
To enhance system performance, one or more of the locks are cached in one or more client caches. Thus, it is important to ensure that the cached locks are valid at the time of use. Although caching protocols exist, a need still exists for a capability that further manages cached locks, or other cached entities. Further, a need exists for a capability that manages access to objects of a computing environment.